Another stellar day for Canada at the Tour de l’Abitibi Femmes.
The Canuck contingent continued its dominant run, sweeping the podium on Stage 2 as Saint-Basile-le-Grand, Que.’s Élodie Malois sprinted to her second consecutive victory.
Stage 2
The 100-km stage around Rouyn-Noranda featured a rolling route with several climbs, but despite lots of attacks, it all came down to a bunch sprint–perfect for Malois.
Noelle Zikovitz (Milton Revolution Racing) took the opening intermediate sprint before teammate Julia Lehmann took the first Queen of the Mountain prize ahead of Norway’s Sereina Snerthammer and Quebec’s Clara Dello Sbarba.
Moore goes for it
The day’s biggest attack came just before the 30-km mark when Ontario’s Elly Moore went clear on her own. Moore, who recently won the Coupe de l’Avenir, ahead of Malois, built an advantage of around 20 seconds and spent more than 10 kilometres off the front before the peloton brought her back.
Malois takes the sprints
Malois continued to strengthen her grip on the race by taking both intermediate bonus sprints, adding valuable seconds to her overall advantage. Lehmann and Kazakhstan’s Anel Tashbay split the remaining mountain classification points.
When the peloton charged toward the finish together, Malois once again proved the fastest. The Canadian junior opened her sprint in the closing metres to secure another stage win.
She was followed across the line by teammates Sandrine Veilleux in second and Émilie Tessier in third, completing a Canadian 1-2-3 on the day.
The result also allowed Malois to increase her lead in the general classification heading into Stage 3. Sunday’s race is from Taschereau to Rouyn-Noranda for a total of 100km. Racing wraps up Monday with an ITT. Then, the junior men will start their race the next day.
Be sure to check back on Canadian Cycling Magazine to see how Stage 3 went for all the junior women racing in the second edition of Abitibi.